The real choice……….

………. is startlingly clear. On the big issues here’s what the last 5 years of Republican governance have given the American people.

George W. Bush inherited a recession, a plunging stock market, a major energy shortage (remember the “Gray Outs” in California), the corporate scandals and 8 years of steady terror attacks against American targets at home and abroad. Here’s what we’ve done in the five or so years since.

Five years without a terror attack in the homeland.
Five years without a mass casualty terror attack against American civilian targets abroad.
The end of three major terror regimes, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.
Two WMD programs, Iraq and Libya, gone from the world stage.
Global terror leadership shattered with its core of leadership figures killed, captured or hiding in caves.
Record high employment, 6.6 million jobs new jobs since 2003.
Record high stock market values.
Low inflation.
Record high personal incomes.
Record high home ownership, particularly among minorities.
Declining illegal immigration.

All of this was done over the Democrats objections every step of the way. While nothing’s perfect, that’s a pretty good job of focusing on the majors. So, please, take your head out of the minutiae and the stream of liberal press and Democrat propaganda and vote the real world.

The final word………………

....................on a pointless controversy. Well, young Donkeys, since you all thought I was arrogant, by calling you kids-although some of you are younger than my children-I am sorry. What follows is, however, arrogant.

You have mischaracterized the purpose, or at least what I perceived as the purpose, of our conversation. I provided you with a rare opportunity-face the beast itself. I was happy with the dialogue. However, we were there to talk about Mr. Fox’s admitted exaggeration of his Parkinson’s symptoms-that confession is on videotape and is no longer subject to rational disagreement. Fox doesn’t have the same appearance while acting on Boston Legal or participating in other interviews or talk shows and has admitted previous exaggeration of his symptoms for political purposes when he testified before Congress. Fox and the product sponsors would have been liable for various kinds of fraud had they been selling products or services instead of ideas. I assume the Drake College Democrats support truth in advertising laws don’t you?

Now here comes the really arrogant part. Perhaps due to the reality of your youth and political inexperience you are unaware of the different roles of party apparatchiks and candidates. Discussing my personal views on embryonic stem cell research in any public forum would be inappropriate at any time and particularly seven days before a close general election because I represent all parts of the party.

The candidates actually represent everyone when they win, for real. You may not like George W. Bush, for example, but he is every bit as much your President as he is mine. Party officials don’t vote on policy so our policy opinions are of no public concern.

That’s why it is so important that the voters know the truth about the competing candidates. The Democrats compounded the shameless exploitation of Michael J. Fox’s Parkinson’s with deception and distortion to produce a vicious and almost entirely false political attack ad. Now, you continue to try and change the subject by trying to bait me into an embryonic stem cell debate-sorry not to oblige. Another day, perhaps?

So, as the final word on this topic-the Democrats got caught in a big and nasty lie. It isn’t “across the line” to publicize it when your opponent gets caught in such a lie, and the only people who would buy that whining already are voting Democrat.

How do I know that? Because the concept of truth in advertising transcends party politics, and no one wants to be lied to.

A few good Democrats………….

…………still exist and they are at Drake University. Around 4:00 today I stopped at RPI to find a gaggle of young lefties, bright eyed and bushy tailed, actually protesting, well, me. Seriously, signs that read things like “Sporer = Hate”, “Sporer = Fake Morals”, and some other equally loving statements were splattered on homemade posters all over East 9th Street by about 15 Drake Democrats.

I suppose some other, more cautious, personality would have hidden or snuck out the back. Actually, when the kids heard that I had “arrived” about half the worker’s brigade moved to the back door, so that option would have been foreclosed anyway. Since we all know how Kurt Russell handled Ike Clanton when Curly Bill shot old Fred White, I decided to cry havoc, and wade into the crew just to see what would happen.

Well, not surprisingly, the kids didn’t fair very well in the clash of wits, which isn’t really saying a whole lot for me. After all, if a 47 year old trial lawyer, who coached debate for a hobby, and majored in philosophy before serving as three term county chairman in Iowa’s most contentious political environment can’t outwit adolescents, then he’d better find a whole new life, eh? So it wasn’t just my love of argument that made the discourse so much fun.

What was a pleasant surprise was how both polite and sincere and, what’s more, reasonably well dressed were the young Donkeys. This was such a difference from the dirty, hysterical, rude leftists of my college days. There was little interruption and no attempt to shout me down or make a childish drama in evidence today.

There was none of that name calling and emotional bombast that the Baby Boom and older Gen X lefty types usually employ, as is well evidenced all over the Republican blogs. The kids actually wanted to argue the merits of stem cell research. While they are both misguided and mistaken, the young Donkeys exercised their First Amendment rights in way that would make Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton and Madison proud.

So the future isn’t as bleak as we think. But here’s a lesson for you, young Donkeys-using victims like Michael J. Fox as your spokesman is designed to terminate debate because it seems so mean to respond to a guy, who probably seems old to you but is actually the same age as me, who suffers from a visually graphic terrible disease. It is very much worse when that spokesman, shall we at least agree, distorts the debate by saying things like “John Doe Republican opposes stem cell research” as a universal deductive statement when we know that it is not a contextually accurate or fair statement.

Here’s another tip of the hat young to the young Donkeys-you dared to go where your political elders won’t. Otherwise Chet and Leonard would have been willing to have a three hour real Lincoln Douglas debate with Jim and Jeff. Your party leadership won’t even debate me. So at least someone has some guts on your side of the aisle.

P.S. Special thanks to all of the volunteers who gave me such a warm and supportive welcome at the Victory Office tonight. We’re in this culture war together and I remain proud as hell to be leading you-and your ovation tonight is utterly energizing for the fight at hand. Like I say, truth and reality are powerful weapons when you use them. Compare our response to the Democrat's preposterous claims and you'll undertstand why the IDP has dropped this distraction in a hurry.